Stigma Against Adolescents Living Positively Rife in Milenge

By Linda Mupemo

Imagine losing both of your parents at a tender age. Imagine being ill-treated because of a health condition you have no control over. Imagine being born with a deadly pandemic. Imagine living with AIDS. 

These are some of the heart wrenching situations some adolescents have been subjected to because they contracted HIV from their mothers. 

As has been our practice, my colleague Milenge District AIDS Coordination Advisor Fanny Gondwe and I organised an essay writing competition for Press and Anti-AIDS clubs members across the district. We give them writing tasks about topical issues that have impact on their lives. The initiative is aimed at improving their writing skills and creating awareness about issues such as Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, child abuse and AIDS. This time around, we asked them to write about how AIDS has affected adolescents in their community. From all the entries we received from various schools, one issue that came out prominently is that adolescents who are living positively have been/ are being mistreated by their guardians. The sad reality is they are treated like children of a lesser god not because they are orphans or dependants but because they are HIV positive. 

One pupil wrote, "I have been living positively for 22 years now. I discovered that I was HIV positive when my mother died, my father died earlier. I moved in with my aunt who started mistreating me. I was ten years old by then. She served me food in separate plates and did not allow me to mingle with my cousins. That disturbed me mentally and emotionally," the article reads in part.

Another pupil wrote, " When my mother died, my elder sister refused to take me in because I was HIV positive.  I was helpless and heartbroken. I now live with my grandmother,” she states.

Milenge District Health Director Dr. Lweendo Munzele hands over the prize to Emmanuel Kunda, the overall winner of the writing competition

All in all, we were impressed with all the articles the pupils wrote. It gave us insight into how adolescents have been directly affected by the AIDS pandemic. It is highly shocking to know that there are people who still stigmatise against those living positively. With all the sensitisation and available information on how to care for HIV patients, there are human beings who still cannot share their plates with them? In 2020?? I think some people just have a high affinity to heartlessness! 

It is enough that some children are orphaned at a tender age before they can start fending for themselves. It is enough that they have a health condition they did not subscribe to. 

If you become their guardian, do not add salt to their injury of losing their parents by ill-treating them. Do not make them feel less human due to their HIV status. That breaks their young innocent souls and shatters their dreams before they even begin to fully dream. Be kind to them. Show them love. 

If you have any friend, colleague or church mate who is an orphan. Whether they open up to you about their situation or not, reach out to them and show them some love. Please, do not remind them about their situation, just be there for them. You have no idea what they are secretly battling with in their guardians' homes. Your care can go a long way in maintaining their sanity.